Galion Beach
| Region | St Maarten |
|---|---|
| Parking | Free, sand |
| Rigging area | Sand |
| Water | Salt |
| Current | None |
| Sailed | 2 days, 2.75 hours |
| First / last day | 8 Feb 2023 / 9 Feb 2023 |
I went to St Martin in February 2023 and sailed a few times at Galion Beach.
Location
Galion beach is on the east side of St Martin, the French part of St Maarten, the Atlantic coast of the island.
The bay is all white sand with some seagrass here and there at the bottom.
Water
The bay is protected from the sea by a reef. In the bay hardly any waves, just some swell. Sometimes a wave comes over the reef and you have swell of a maximum height of 1 meter. With a little more wind, I think it can be a nice freemove spot to jump a bit.
The water is, unsurprisingly, clear and warm. Most of the places in the bay you can't stand.
I don't know what the reef itself is like. You are not allowed to go there from the rental, it was also too little wind to really go into the waves with a wave set.
Unfortunately, there is weed. Normally not yet in February, but certainly in the summer, June and July it must be very bad. In February we also suffered from floating long strings. Not really fields in which you get stuck, but often stop to get the weed off again.
Weather and wind
Warm weather, warm clear water. Wind is dominant from ENE, always wind: day and night. 16 to 24 knots.
Best month for wind (without hurricane) should be February.
Had a short shower every day. You are not really bothered by it, the island is therefore beautifully green.
The wind direction is perfect for this bay, you can make long runs along the reef to the other side of the bay.
Rental
Windy Reef is the small rental center on Galion Beach. Fanatic/North. However, they don't have a lot of stuff, especially a lot of freeride stuff: Geckos. Not suitable for the more advanced surfer. Only 1 Blast, a 130 and only 1 Freewave, a 95. The spot really deserves a row of Freewaves. They rent out the stuff with fixed (and for me too short) 26 inch harnesslines. Sails rigged on aluminum booms.
Typical Carabian: Between 12:30 and 14:30 the rental is closed, and the equipment must be returned. In addition, they are also not really punctual to open. Sometimes there is just no one, or there is only 1 person and he is sailing himself.
There is no food or drinks for sale, there is also no beach bar nearby: bring your own.
Recommended?
If you are on St Martin, you feel like sailing for a while, definitely go and have a look. I wouldn't book a windsurfing vacation here. Unless you're going to bring your own stuff. If you do this, I would also bring 1 or 2 weedfins to be sure. Are you going to rent, you sail longer harneslines, bring your own.
Location
Galion beach is on the east side of St Martin, the French part of St Maarten, the Atlantic coast of the island.
The bay is all white sand with some seagrass here and there at the bottom.
Water
The bay is protected from the sea by a reef. In the bay hardly any waves, just some swell. Sometimes a wave comes over the reef and you have swell of a maximum height of 1 meter. With a little more wind, I think it can be a nice freemove spot to jump a bit.
The water is, unsurprisingly, clear and warm. Most of the places in the bay you can't stand.
I don't know what the reef itself is like. You are not allowed to go there from the rental, it was also too little wind to really go into the waves with a wave set.
Unfortunately, there is weed. Normally not yet in February, but certainly in the summer, June and July it must be very bad. In February we also suffered from floating long strings. Not really fields in which you get stuck, but often stop to get the weed off again.
Weather and wind
Warm weather, warm clear water. Wind is dominant from ENE, always wind: day and night. 16 to 24 knots.
Best month for wind (without hurricane) should be February.
Had a short shower every day. You are not really bothered by it, the island is therefore beautifully green.
The wind direction is perfect for this bay, you can make long runs along the reef to the other side of the bay.
Rental
Windy Reef is the small rental center on Galion Beach. Fanatic/North. However, they don't have a lot of stuff, especially a lot of freeride stuff: Geckos. Not suitable for the more advanced surfer. Only 1 Blast, a 130 and only 1 Freewave, a 95. The spot really deserves a row of Freewaves. They rent out the stuff with fixed (and for me too short) 26 inch harnesslines. Sails rigged on aluminum booms.
Typical Carabian: Between 12:30 and 14:30 the rental is closed, and the equipment must be returned. In addition, they are also not really punctual to open. Sometimes there is just no one, or there is only 1 person and he is sailing himself.
There is no food or drinks for sale, there is also no beach bar nearby: bring your own.
Recommended?
If you are on St Martin, you feel like sailing for a while, definitely go and have a look. I wouldn't book a windsurfing vacation here. Unless you're going to bring your own stuff. If you do this, I would also bring 1 or 2 weedfins to be sure. Are you going to rent, you sail longer harneslines, bring your own.